In 1920, the train was used in a war against Poland. During the Polish Kiev Offensive, on 28 April 1920 near village Kotyuzhyntse, after being shot by the Polish 1st Battery of the 13th Kresowy field artillery regiment, the train was abandoned and captured by the Polish troops of the 50th Kresowy Rifle Regiment. After repairs, it was manned by the Polish crew (coming among others from "Zagonczyk" train) and entered service as: "Strzelec Kresowy", assigned initially to the 13th Infantry Division.

In May 1920, "Strzelec Kresowy" served in Ukraine near Kiev, supporting the units of the Polish 2nd and 3rd Armies against pressing Soviet units. After launching of the Soviet counter-offensive, "Strzelec Kresowy" took part in almost 2-month retreat fights, among other against Budyonny's cavalry, trying to cut off Polish units. Finally, it was evacuated to Deblin in central Poland, still acting as a broad gauge (1524mm) train.

In July 1920, the train was renamed to "Pierwszy Marszalek" ('The First Marshal') - in honour of Marshal Józef Pilsudski (it was sometimes written in short as: "I Marszalek", or just "Marszalek"). After being repaired and converted to the standard gauge (1435mm), the train entered service again on 16 August 1920, taking part in the great Warsaw Battle. It was supporting an attack of the 1st podhalanskich rifle regiment from the direction of Kock to Sokolow. Until the end of war, the train stayed in Lithuania, partly occupied by the Poles. It seems, that during all this early period of service, the train retained its original Soviet composition of only two artillery wagons "Krasnoye Sormovo" type and O class armoured locomotive.

"Pierwszy Marszalek" in the twenties - an excellent view of both artillery wagons together. It might be the Warsaw Battle
[source 10]

Contrary to information in some publications (eg. source [5]), "Pierwszy Marszalek" wasn't created of the Lithuanian train "Gedyminas", captured on 3 October 1920 in Vilnius, nor it incorporated "Gedyminas" rolling stock.

In September 1920, "I Marszalek" was given a number P.P. 21 (Pociag pancerny - Armoured Train nr. 21) - earlier probably it had no number. After 1920, when the war was over, "I Marszalek" was assigned for further service, among the 12 most modern trains, with the new number P.P. 3.
In the winter of 1923/24 most of Polish armoured trains were demobilized and stored, among them was also "I Marszalek". In the late twenties or early thirties it was brought back to service and assigned to the 2nd Armoured Trains' Unit (dywizjon pociagow pancernych) in Cracov - Niepolomice, created in 1928. During the next years it was used intensively for training there.

In the early thirties the train and its wagons underwent some modernization. The locomotive was changed to the standard type Ti3, replacing Soviet O series locomotive. The train's armament was
standardized (75mm wz.02/26 guns and wz.08 MG's) and AA machine guns were added. The train also received radio and signal equipment then.

In 1939, during the mobilization, the 2nd
Armoured Train Unit in Niepolomice mobilized five trains, and among them armoured train nr. 51 - former "I Marszalek" (the names were not used anymore officially).

"Strzelec Kresowy" means: "The Rifleman of Kresy". Kresy was the name of former (XVI c.- 1939) Polish eastern border territories, now: western Ukraine and Belarus. It's pronounced like: [St-SHEL-lets cre-so-vee]."Pierwszy Marszalek" means: "the First Marshal" - Marshal Józef Pilsudski, 1867-1935, one of the founders of the independent Poland, Polish Head of State in 1918-22; later: the actual head of state in 1926-35, after his coup d'etat of 1926. The correct spelling with Polish characters is: "...Marszałek"

The train was assigned to the "Kraków" (Cracov) Army - see a map. On the 1st September 1939 the train was in Skawina railway station, south of Cracov. Just on that day it came into action, supporting with artillery fire the 1st Mountain Brigade, fighting in Beskidy Mountains. On 2 September the train was in Jordanów railway station. In the morning, the station was shelled by the enemy artillery, and Cpt. Cymborski was injured. The 2nd in command, Cpt. Rokossowski took over the command then.
During the next several hours the train was bombarding the units of the German 2nd Panzer Division with an indirect fire, controled from the observation outpost. The train was cooperating with the 10th (Motorised) Cavalry Brigade - 10.BK then. In the afternoon, after the observation outpost was destroyed, the Poles tried to control a fire using armoured draisines.
Finally, when the Polish units defending Jordanow withdrew at about 5 pm, the train was also withdrawn to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska.

In the next few days the train wasn't used in combat, only its draisines were acting in reconnaissance (on 5 September the draisine unit commander was injuried in a skirmish). On 8 September the train was on the way from Tarnow to Mielec and Tarnobrzeg. It came across a recce unit of the 2nd PzDiv (again!) and damaged enemy armoured car. The further line to Rozwadow was jammed with destroyed or abandoned evacuation trains, and the crew of "Marszalek" had to work all day, removing the wagons from the track with a crane. The train finally got to Rozwadów junction (near Stalowa Wola) on 10 September, and stayed there for the next few days. According to the source [7], on 10 September the armoured train carried the food and ammunition supplies for the units of Gen. Szyling, fighting still on the west bank of the Vistula. On 11 September, the crew found an abandoned 40mm Bofors wz.36 AA-gun in Stalowa Wola, which, after putting upon the flatcar, strengthened the train's AA defence. On 13 September, the train was protecting the bridge on the San. On 14 September, while covering the retreat of Polish forces near Zaklikow village, the train managed to delay the advance of the German 4th Infantry Division units until the next day and prevented Polish 94th Inf. Rgt. from being cut off of Polish main forces.

The artillery wagon of "I Marszalek" in a camouflage from 1937-39. [source 10]

Then, the train was withdrawn farther towards east, to Lublin, where it was decided to move the train to Lwow (Lviv, now in Ukraine). It had to be done roundabout, because the direct lines were just about to be captured. On 16 September 1939, the crew had to "chop" the way to Kovel (now in Belarus) across heavy railway jams, removing the jammed wagons of the track with a crane, and even to build new railway detours in order to pass destroyed and totally jammed stretches. The auxiliary section underwent an air raid, with a few injuries. During the previous days also the armoured section underwent several air raids, without major effects though.

On the 17th September 1939, the Soviet Union, fulfilling Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty, invaded eastern Poland. That day the train nr.51 was in Sarny and according to the source [8], was fighting with the Soviet air raids, shooting down one plane. On the next day in the morning, near Kostopol, the train met Soviet motorized column riding from Rowne. In a skirmish, the train supposedly destroyed 4 armoured cars "3-axle type" (BA-6), 3 artillery tractors and several trucks. Next, the train was patrolling in Sarny area, on occasion shooting at Soviet planes and cavalry units. On 20 September, the train was supporting Polish KOP (Border Protection Corps) soldiers with fire from Niemowice station. On the next day, it was protecting Polish soldiers' retreat.

The fate of the train is not clear yet. According to sources [2 & 8], on 22 September 1939 in the afternoon, the train was bombed by the Soviet planes. Both armoured section and auxiliary section were damaged, so Cpt. Rokossowski ordered to leave the train. However, according to the sources [4 & 7], the train was not bombed, but abandoned due to the advance of Soviet armoured units, cutting the line to Lviv. After leaving the train, some of the crew members joined Polish SGO (Independent Operational Group) "Polesie", which surrendered to the Germans after the Battle of Kock on the 5th October 1939, being the last Polish unit in the field.

The armoured train, as a military unit, consisted of: an armoured section, a platoon of armoured draisines and an unarmoured auxiliary section. The armoured section and armoured draisines were the combat section of the armoured train, while the auxiliary section was supporting the operation of the combat section from a logistical point of view and did not take part in combat duties directly. Sometimes, writing about "armoured train" I mean the armoured section (the strict meaning of "armoured train") or combat section only.

On the right: an interesting sequence of shooting 75mm wz.02/26 gun in the former wagon of "I Marszalek" in German Panzerzug 10b, 1943. On the second photo, the barrel is at full recoil. The wagon has German MG's.

Other armament consisted of 2 x 7.92mm wz. 08 (Maxim) machine guns in each artillery turret (on either side of the gun) and 4 x wz.08 machine guns in wagon's sides. In the early thirties, each of the artillery wagons was fitted with one 7.92mm wz. 08 anti-aircraft machine gun in a small turret on the roof, with the maximum elevation of 90°, in a place of an earlier observation turret. The total for an artillery wagon was 8 wz.08 MG's and one AAMG. The ammunition was probably 3,750 rounds per each MG (in 250-round belts). Probably up to 120 artillery rounds per gun were carried in artillery wagons.

The assault wagon was initially armed with 4 MG's in side casemates. After the modernization in the thirties, it was armed with 4 x 7.92mm wz. 08 (Maxim) MG's in the side doors - they could be used to flank-fire along the train. The ammunition was probably 3,750 per MG (in 250-round belts). The armour was probably made of double layers of regular steel plates (12 mm and 9 mm), separated with 40 mm wooden layer. The wagon had two doors in each side, and doors in both ends, which (theoretically) enabled passing between wagons. It also had hatches in the bottom.
The assault platoon consisted of 32 men (1 officer, 7 NCO's, 24 soldiers, with 2 LMG's). The total wagon's crew was about 40 (with signalmen and stretcher-bearers).

Since the early thirties, the assault wagon was equipped with long-range radio RKD/P (range - up to 100km), placed in a separate radio cab in the middle of the wagon. The wagon was also fitted with a power generator, batteries and a large clothes line aerial on the roof. The significant feature was three rows of aerial masts, the middle row was higher.

The crew of the train's armoured section was about 120-130 men - the whole armoured train's crew (with an auxiliary section and draisines) was about 190.

Draisines usually acted in two units, consisting of: one "R" and two "TK" draisines. All the tanks could be easily detached from their rail chassis' and then used for ground reconnaissance tasks. The fifth TK tankette was in reserve. See the details on armoured draisines page.